Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 186

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 186.
The Call of the Sealed Land (32)
“You’ve been granted only a single day’s reprieve. The Regent said that if you change your mind, he will conduct the purification ceremony again on the day of your betrothal to Liriope. If you choose to remain on the Island, you will be betrothed to Liriope within days, and that bond cannot be broken under any circumstances. While other betrothals can be dissolved, this one determines the position of the next Regent’s consort—a matter of utmost importance. Therefore, even if Liriope’s heart were to change, the betrothal could not be nullified.”
Nauplion spoke rapidly to that point, then drew a long, deep breath and pressed his lips firmly shut. I could sense how fiercely he must have struggled over this very matter.
Perhaps the Regent believed he was showing mercy even in this. That was likely because Liriope still had not wavered in her resolve.
“The Regent said he would have Liriope married once she reaches seventeen. Since his wife departed for the Continent long ago, the Regent has lost faith in women and believes that even his own daughter is not suited to rule the Island. Thus, if you become his son-in-law, you may eventually serve as the Island’s true master.”
If that came to pass, I could fulfill Zero’s hopes without reservation.
But at the same time, Daphnen, Isolet, and Liriope would never find happiness again.
“However, if you ultimately refuse the purification ceremony, you will not need to be betrothed to Liriope, but you must leave the Island and can never return. Should you happen to encounter an Islander on the Continent, they will not acknowledge you, and you must do the same. And as you know, those who leave the Island must leave a lock of hair in a blue-stone vessel—a magical device that prevents the Island’s secrets from being revealed to the Continent’s people. Therefore, you must spend your entire life completely forgetting everything about the Island. As for me… I will likely never venture to the Continent again, so reunion would be impossible.”
In that moment, Daphnen’s emotions overwhelmed him and he cried out.
“I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to go anywhere without you! Truly, I’ve been happy all this time because of you…. Why won’t you just tell me to stay here instead?”
“If you stay, you will never see Isolet’s face again, will you?”
Daphnen’s lips trembled, but he could not answer. Nauplion spoke carefully, as if teaching him.
“If that happens, from that moment on, not even Isolet’s shadow will reach your hands. Both you and Isolet will be unhappy. Is that what you want? No, it isn’t.”
Daphnen suddenly embraced Nauplion. Since he was still shorter than him, his head pressed against Nauplion’s jaw.
“I know… that you cannot live long.”
For a moment, I felt Nauplion’s shoulders flinch. But the answer that followed was utterly calm.
“What are you saying? You? Or me?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know! Nauplion… you were wounded by that creature when the Ilios Priest passed away long ago. It’s a wound that won’t heal, and the Ilios Priest treated you so you could live only about ten more years. I know everything. The reason he didn’t tell Isolet about it then was because it was the Ilios Priest’s mistake, wasn’t it? No—it wasn’t a mistake. It was intentional, wasn’t it? Isolet was twelve then and is now nineteen, so what remains is….”
Suddenly, Nauplion pushed Daphnen away. He cupped the boy’s cheeks in his hands and looked directly into his eyes.
“Where did you hear such a thing? No, it’s not something you should have been able to hear at all. Only the Ilios Priest and I were there that day. I’ve never told anyone. So what’s happened? Did someone speculate as much?”
“Do you remember when I went to see the spirits about Oizis?”
When Daphnen had left those words carved into a piece of wood, Nauplion understood where he had gone, and this time he had kept the secret safe until the boy’s return.
Only then did confusion flash across Nauplion’s face.
“The spirits told you such a thing? Why? You went to them because of Oizis.”
“It wasn’t the spirits who told me…. There’s a strange forest on the way to meet them. A place where people from the past appear and vanish at will. It even shows me people who seem to have no connection to me whatsoever. The spirits called it the Forest of Hearts. There, I saw you and the Ilios Priest. Though they were only shadows….”
Nauplion was silent for a long time. After a little more time had passed, he suddenly burst into laughter.
It was not a self-deprecating or despairing smile, but rather a laugh of bewilderment.
“So, I never imagined such a thing existed. This is truly shocking. Yes, you’re right. The reason I didn’t tell people about what happened then was to keep the Ilios Priest’s actions hidden from Isolet. But he had his reasons. He hated me for a long time, but during that final battle, when I found myself in danger, he unconsciously saved me instead of Antemoesa, his first disciple.”
I remembered hearing that story in the Forest of Hearts.
“As you’ve fought before, you know that creature extends its claws far to attack many people. Thanks to the Ilios Priest’s intervention, I was merely wounded while Antemoesa died in that place. Because he was so proud, he could not easily accept his own feelings. Shocked by his own actions, he became angry with himself and, while killing the creature, deliberately destroyed the red heart within it…. Ah, you’ve seen it too, so you know?”
Daphnen nodded silently.
“He intentionally shattered that jewel. If he had kept it, he already knew it could heal me. And then…. Do you know what came after? The story of my sword and his sword?”
He nodded again.
“So you truly know everything. The Ilios Priest was born to poor and rigid parents and could not obtain even a single sword necessary to learn swordsmanship. His parents, seeing their son possessed such great talent, feared that the Island’s nobility would grow jealous and refused to teach him anything.”
An old tale unfolded. Long ago, before Nauplion was even born, Dentro, the Priest of the Sword and successor to Tiela, was a greedy man.
At that time, children eager to learn Tiela lined up at his door, and he openly accepted only those who brought him gifts and money.
Young Ilios came seeking to learn Tiela, but was coldly rejected. Dentro had no intention of teaching a child who could offer no payment and would not grovel submissively.
When Ilios persisted, citing the Island’s laws point by point and demanding instruction, Dentro laughed and imposed a condition: he would not teach because there were not enough practice swords, so Ilios must obtain a pair of swords for Tiela himself.
It was an utterly absurd demand—essentially a refusal to teach at all.
Back then, the Blacksmith’s Shop on The Island hadn’t developed the techniques it possessed now, so fine blades were rare—only a handful of children from noble families owned good swords.
Now, children under fifteen are forbidden from carrying swords, but it was different in those days. Several accidents occurred afterward, which is how that law came to be.
It was more than what I’d known before, so Daphnen listened intently. From what I’d seen in the Forest of Hearts alone, I couldn’t understand why the fact that Oinopion had forged both of their swords was so significant.
“My master at the time, Oinopion, had considerable skill in blade-smithing, but honestly, he was lazy—he’d gather materials and let them rot. Naturally, people didn’t even know he made swords. I only know this from hearsay, but… the Ilios Priest somehow obtained a pair of Tiela twin blades that someone had left behind, and with them, he boldly became a disciple of the Dentro Priest. He was eventually cast out, but that’s another story… Anyway, the Ilios Priest apparently tried hard to repay the person who gave him those blades, but because the Blacksmith—my master’s friend—kept his mouth shut, he never found out.”
“So in that final moment, when you saw your sword, he learned the identity of the blade he’d received? When I bloodied that sword on the Continent… I was curious when Isolet said the same characters were engraved on her sword as well.”
Nauplion continued laughing. I couldn’t fathom what was so amusing.
“Learning the full truth in that final moment, the Ilios Priest was furious. I understand his feelings. He’d even rejected our master’s suggestion to learn Tigris back then, and afterward, despite being the successor of an important tradition, his swordsmanship was pathetic, and on top of that, he despised our master for making and drinking forbidden spirits on The Island.”
Nauplion shrugged his shoulders and narrowed his eyes.
“The Ilios Priest was a genius, and moreover, he was diligent. Terrifying, isn’t it? People like that can’t bear to look at those without ability and lazy ones. Yet our master, whom he’d so despised, had already passed away—and only then did he learn that this master had bestowed a crucial grace upon him. And that was right after he’d deliberately destroyed the last method to revive me, his only disciple.”
The entire story flowed out as easily as if it were someone else’s affair.
“A perfectionist who couldn’t stand being indebted—how could he have endured that situation? He probably remained troubled in his heart even when he passed away.”
Watching him speak so casually, as though he gave no thought to what Ilios had done to him, my heart ached. I let out a small sigh, and Nauplion chuckled softly before speaking again.
“You’re sighing because you feel sorry for me right now, aren’t you?”
I wasn’t in the mood to banter. But Nauplion shook his head and began laughing aloud.
“There’s one thing you don’t know… Your deductive reasoning is quite lacking. I won’t die. Well, I’ll die eventually, but I’m not scheduled to die this year, next year, or the year after. My wound has already been healed. Come on, guess why.”
“What did you say?”
Too delighted and astonished to think of deductions, Daphnen pressed him repeatedly.
“Is that really true? You’ve truly been healed? How? Where on earth… The only thing that could cure that was that jewel from the monster’s body…”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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